Heart of a Tigress
by Knight of Tabitha
Summary: After losing everything that matters to her and after being locked up in Arkham, Tabitha Galavan attempts to start her life over and finds that second chances bring with them surprising new friends and family. How will this new path come to affect her and those around her but more importantly has she truly changed?
1. Chapter 1

Tabitha Galavan waited in the Arkham wreck room it was sad how empty it was nothing but tables and empty chairs. Tabitha was a sorry sight a shell of her former self. She'd become for lack of a better word a declawed cat and now just wished, to be left alone in peace. That was why she confessed to every crime she ever committed and turned herself in at the GCPD.

For some reason she was deemed insane, and sentenced to Arkham she should have gotten the death penalty then again, she already did die. She was killed by Penguin and Butch made Strange bring her back but she didn't remember who she was when she came something went wrong and even though she had strong feelings for Butch she didn't know who he was.

Some how Penguin found out what Butch was doing, he came in and he shot Butch in front of her she didn't understand not even now but despite not having all her memories her heart shattered when Butch died in front of her. Penguin was about to kill her for a second time but then decided not to. He wanted to make her new chance at life a living hell. So he had a mini bomb collar but on her neck and forced her to work for him. It was a nightmare of endless abuse and humiliation complete with Penguin using a mini bomb collar around her neck as leverage and the worst part was not remembering what she did to him.

Eventually a stranger name Selina Kyle saved her. Selina had broken into Penguin's home and found Tabitha crying for some reason Tabitha crying was shocking to sight to people though Tabitha (who even now didn't remember much about her life before she died) didn't understand why much less why people were always so frightened of her. That and Tabitha didn't understand why but Selina felt like the first person to treat her as a person right off the bat for some reason that made Tabitha trust her immediately.

After meeting Selina and Tabitha became a team. It didn't start off on a good foundation though. Selina out of perhaps desperation lied to Tabitha and said they were friends. Tabitha believed her and odd enough Selina did become her friend, even more strange when Tabitha remembered the truth well when she got enough of her memories back it didn't matter their friendship was what mattered to Tabitha. Besides Selina did steal the key to the bomb collar from Oswald so Tabitha figured what was a lie between friends?

Together they were a great duo and Tabitha though she never said it out loud started to love Selina a if she was one of her own. It was short lived but it was awesome sadly ultimately Selina had a falling out with Tabitha. It was over the last thing you'd expect Tabitha had only one condition for them staying partners Selina had to go to school like a regular kid, she couldn't do anything to in danger her education, and Selina had to get a job. Selina had a hard time adjusting and found herself stealing less and less this made Tabitha happy for some reason though she still didn't understand why.

Tabitha even now didn't understand why Selina getting an education mattered to her. At first, she wanted her to get it so Selina could have something to fall back on. However, over time Selina's happiness and well-being began to matter more to Tabitha than anything else so much so that even as the majority of Tabitha's memories started to return all she cared about was looking after the kid and when they had that fight over how Selina felt like Tabitha was trying to change her and to be honest she was but arguably for the better that was why she felt the best way to make Selina understand was to turn herself in.

She turned looking at her reflection in the window. Tabitha really had nothing left their place had been raided by Penguin's thugs the day before she turned herself in and since practically everything she had the clothes on her back included were stolen it was a safe bet that her Arkham black and white stripes were as close to the most legitimate thing she could claim to have now.

She couldn't begin to imagine why she was here now maybe Selina wanted to see her. What happened next truly surprised her Harvey Dent, and Jim Gordon walked in Harvey Dent carried a file folder. "Good evening Miss Galavan I believe your familiar with Detective Gordon I'm-"

"I know who you are what's this about?" She asked abruptly.

"We are here to make you an offer you see in recent months more and more highly skilled and shall we say talented individuals have popped up due to the nature of their origins or what have you a new bill has been passed for individuals. If they meet certain criteria they can participate in a rehabilitation program." Dent explained.

"So, I meet this criteria?"

"Barely." Gordon answered "Basically you'd be under my supervision you'd still be a prisoner and required to wear your uniform when not fulfilling your community service. Also, I'd have to have a room converted into a cell and you'd be required to wear a new type of monitor meant to track and keep you in line curtesy of a new government agency known as A.R.G.U.S. the reasons for these rules is that while this is a sort of work release and house arrest situation you are still legally considered an inmate."

Tabitha took a deep breath then looked at Harvey "Mr. Dent I would like to have a moment with Detective Gordon seeing as he and I may be spending a lot of time together. I think it's only appropriate we hammer out the more-" Tabitha paused the sight of her biting her lip was enough to tell Jim she still had a fiery temper deep down inside of her especially when she finished with "intimate details of this arrangement." It was easy to tell she was pissed but she clearly was exercising restraint.

"Alright." Harvey Dent straightened his tie as he got up from his chair "Jim if you need anything I'll be outside the door."

"I'll be fine Dent." Gordon nodded taking a literal grin and bear approach.

Tabitha watched as the attorney walked out the door her eyes like a stealthy predator "Now that he's gone and there are no cameras in here I want to ask you something Jim. It is okay if I call you Jim right? I mean you killed my brother so I assume we don't need to be so formal."

"What do you want from me Tabitha? I'm not happy with this any more than you are but I'm doing this for-" Jim paused swallowing his pride "a friend."

Tabitha laughed "What friend? Who could we possibly have in common."

"It's more of a friend of a friend situation." He clarified "The point is we might as well try and get along since this is the only way you can get out of here while your still fairly young if not you won't breathe fresh air for a very long time. Is that what you want? Five years with me or however long you got here?"

"What exactly will I be doing?" She asked.

"When you are not in confined to your cell you will be doing community service. Which involves working under Alfred Pennyworth at Wayne manor as well as myself I'm up for a promotion as the new Captain of the GCPD and you are not at Wayne Manor will act as my personal assistant or secretary. It's a lot better than here at least."

Tabitha took a deep a breath and let it out visibly showing her depression "So now I'm a maid it's just like in the story of what happened to my ancestor. Butch lost his hand and I live out my days as a maid." She started laughing "I must look pathetic right now to you. I bet you enjoy this the chance to humiliate me like this. You think your better than me right?"

Gordon showed he was getting frustrated "You're a murderer and you've tortured people do you expect me to feel sorry for you?"

"I want one thing from you before I agree to this so called work release program. I want a confession I've confessed to all my crimes. Just admit what you did to my brother and why you did it and tell me why you killed Mario. I admit I've been going through some changes so much so I'm very different now than how I was, so a confession is all I'm asking for Jim. From one monster to another tell me the truth. Admit you are a serial killer to me. That's the one thing you've never shown a woman your truth, your soul you couldn't show your real self to Barbara, or Lee not even that Valerie woman but I want you to give that to me. As a family member of your second victim you owe me that." She spoke with a surprisingly sad tone Jim hadn't expected that from her. Tabitha never came off as someone capable of being calm much less openly sad.

Jim closed his eyes and took a deep breath "Your right I have killed people I have crossed the line I tell me myself I did because I had no other choice. I tell myself it was for a greater good but the truth is I-" Jim stopped unable to bring himself to say it out loud "I partly did it because I was pissed off and because part of me felt powerful and that's what terrifies me about killing not that it's wrong but because I enjoy it because God help if I went too far into the dark and came back like you Tabitha."

She nodded the looked over at a window "I use to love riding horses and playing with my pet dogs. Then one day my brother left all I had was the horses and my dogs. I was a bastard, my step mother never stopped reminding me of that. My father he was a drinker a womanizer and he had temper he would also come into my room at night sometimes when he was drunk and-" She stopped clearly not able to continue but Jim could read between the lines "They made kill my dogs as part of some sick test. The idea was to desensitize me towards murder and it worked I would cry a little less after each one and I'd feel like part of me was dying with them. When I killed my favorite horse, it felt like I only had a little speck of light in me that was barely holding on."

Tabitha said starting to tear up but still continued "I was a teenager when Theo came back from wherever he was being trained and I hoped he would protect me from them like he used to. I hoped he would take me away from that nightmare but he changed it was like he wasn't my brother anymore that was when the last bit of light in me died. That's why I liked Butch so much I could pretend with him I was normal. I got to be normal in some ways I guess I loved living with him watching him read the newspaper. I even got to have a friend like Barbara."

"Why are you telling me this Tabitha?" Jim asked clearly confused.

Tabitha took a deep breath obviously hesitating "I want you to know that when I say I'm trying to start over and that starting over includes forgiving you and attempting to allow you to start over in a sense that I am telling you the truth. What I'm saying I guess is that Jim Gordon I forgive you do you forgive me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Arkham, Tabitha's room…

Tabitha was playing with a deck of cards. She had taken up card tricks to pass the time and found they were rather intertaining randomly selecting a had to see what she would draw. Then shuffle the deck again and again.

"Maybe I have gone insane." She murmured. Tabitha got special privileges because she was a model patient Asylums turned out to be a lot like prison which surprised her a lot. She had at least committed nine acts of torture, murder, and even attempted murder by her count and that was just after coming to Gotham she'd probably committed a few dozen crimes and could probably be called a serial killer.

 _Is this who I am?_ She asked herself. Tabitha before getting her brain rebooted or whatever never really thought about her actions or really cared about consequences. Maybe something was still forgotten some key memory that made her remorseless that had yet to return or maybe the experience of restarting had changed her permanently. Still she found herself questioning whether she was the monster she had been or if that was what her family made her.

She kept thinking about when she saved Silver from Theo. Tabitha also thought about when she almost lost her hand for Butch. If she was a psychopath or a sociopath would she really have done those things? Was she really the monster everyone said she was? "Maybe I just have been around the wrong people." Tabitha started shaking her head "Shut up Tabitha you're getting sentimental." She wondered what her life would have been like if she was raised in a normal family or even if she had at least one normal person around her growing up "I wonder what it's like to have a normal family."

Later That Night at Former Commissioner Loeb's House…

Loeb watched the credits for his favorite sitcom roll as it came to an end. He found himself being consumed with a mix of boredom and despair since his forced retirement as commissioner of the GCPD "Damn that Gordon." Loeb muttered taking another sip of whiskey.

He turned the TV off with his remote and proceeded to his kitchen where he placed, his glass in the sink after a trip to the bathroom he made his way to his bedroom his house was very empty now and he really didn't care for this new life that had been forced upon him. Yes, he was corrupt but he at least had no vices as that Penguin fellow pointed out. So what if he put someone Jim Gordon cared about in the line of fire with that Ogre, Gordon made it personal when he involved his daughter.

Loeb sat on his bed and reached for the light on his night stand about to turn it off when he heard a voice "You seem a lot weaker than I remember."

Loeb jumped terrified the voice came from a masked man in a black hoodie aiming a gun at him "Who are you what do you want?"

The masked man raised a gun "My name is not important Mr. Loeb. What is important is that I have a question for you and how you answer depends what happens to you."

"Okay ask me anything." Loeb replied sweating a like a pig.

"When does righteousness and justice stop being morally right?" The Masked man asked.

"I don't understand."

He took a deep breath "You have been called a man without any vices to exploit yet you clearly compromised your moral integrity out of love for your daughter. I want to know how you went from an honest man to a whore that bent over and would spread your legs for Falcone. How did you fall so far that you'd run the GCPD like a tyrant? I ask because you clearly didn't rise through the ranks without believing in the law on some level nobody makes it that far without some sense of honor."

"You'd have to be a father to truly understand." Loeb answered firmly "You are right I didn't always do the bidding of Falcone but my daughter became his leverage over me. I use, to believe in things yes, however years of spreading my legs as you so eloquently describe it eroded my once uncompromising morals. I don't know when it was I became the very scum I once struggled to fight so I can't really answer your question. Now before you make up your mind answer my question why are you here?"

The man in black sighed "I have for a long time considered myself a morally grounded man but I sacrificed my morals and started being a friend for a man of less than honorable morals shall we say. During my second year in this city I had a superior appointed with truly unflinching morals I often wish he came into my life earlier if truth be told but even he fell from grace. You see it's like I'm cursed to have those I love die or be consumed by their darkness and I found myself struggling to build something or to make any difference. Only to make a discovery concerning my own mother right after I discovered a secret about my father ironically."

"What does your mother have to do with me?" Loeb asked becoming more worried.

"Nothing I just-" He paused "my mother was the one parent I had that I favored the most and I lost her under what I thought was seemingly normal circumstances. While we were initially close after the death of my father she became fixated on carving my own destiny and path as she had envisioned it. She sent me to military school, and had study this odd bible I'd never seen before that she claimed went back centuries with our bloodline. She always pressured me to be the best possible warrior I could be even after we became estranged she believed I had the strength to fulfill a long-heated vendetta concerning our family and this city. I long thought that we were done with one another but on the anniversary of her death some months ago I received a notice from her lawyer and discovered what my mother had been preparing me for and it was like everything made sense to me. I suddenly understood why she forced me to memorize every, last sentence of that odd scripture, why she put through one rigorous ordeal after the next, I understood my mother's legacy and what she wanted from me."

"What in God's name are you talking about?" Loeb asked growing more frightened after listening to the mad man's monologue.

"What I am saying is that I know what I am becoming and who I am becoming. I now understand what this darkness inside of me is and who it's guiding me to be I just don't know if I should or how I should embrace him. That's what is torturing me Loeb I am at war with the principals of my father and the teachings of my mother." He explained and then continued with "I long to protect and up hold the law as my father did but I now see my mother was not out of her mind in teaching me this city must be cleansed I've seen far too many souls be lost by sin to think otherwise. I just don't know how to reconcile my conflicting beliefs. My mother had a secret life I recently discovered and it got her killed which is in part of why I'm standing at this crossroads I now find myself at. I want justice for her but justice requires that I become what I have stood against! However, if I do not get justice for her I will have followed the law but I will have failed as a son but if I do what I must as a son I will betray someone very dear to me. So, tell me how do I avenge my mother and punish this city by turning my back on my virtues? How do I become this dark avenger within me and kill the man I've been? How do I become Azrael?"

The GCPD, Captains Office the next morning…

Harvey looked over at Jim rubbing his face he felt like he had just got the wind kicked out of him "Jim please tell me your joking. When I gave you this job and stepped down it was because I knew you'd be the better man for it. Now you are telling me you are letting Tabitha Galavan live with you and that's she's going to be in freaking Wayne Manor and on top of that she's going to be here when she can't work at Wayne Manor." Harvey shook his head "Has everyone in this city gone completely mental?"

"Look I'm not happy about it either I only agreed because Bruce asked me on Selina's behalf. It's not like she'll be allowed near Bruce. Alfred, has it arranged so she's not at the manor when Bruce is. She'll be there when Bruce is at school she'll arrive after he leaves and be picked up by me before Bruce even comes back. Also, the monitor will prevent her from leaving it's designed like an electric shock collar she steps out of line Alfred can use a remote to zap her or if she leaves or tries to leave the grounds without the right code entered she'll be zapped automatically. When she's with me she'll be confined to a make shift cell but given how she improves I have authority to let her out and gradually give her more freedom if I think she's improving."

"Oh, Jim this is a bad idea. I mean you may as well be inviting Penguin and Riddler to dinner while trusting them to bring the, food because that's how dumb this idea is. I'm telling you she's going to kill you, Alfred and Bruce first chance she gets!" Harvey shouted while keeping his voice down low.

"I understand where you are coming from trust me I'll be sleeping with one eye open in the mean time I need you to work a case for me. Loeb's body was found in his crucified with some familiar writing on the wall in Loeb's blood. It was his neighbors that first noticed and called the police I need you to go down there and make sure the officers on scene are doing their job Loeb was dirty but he was respected around here."

"What was the writing about?"

"It reads according to the officers dispatched ' _The blood of the nine shall wash away the sin._ The son of Gotham _will die and the city will be cleansed_ ' sound familiar?" Gordon was being rhetorical but Harvey got the point.

"So those Dumas freaks better known as Tabitha's family are back in town and they plan to pick up where Theo left off? Jim that's even more reason to-"

Jim interrupted Harvey quickly "I don't think this is connected to Theo and Tabitha. Don't ask me why but this while it is certainly wreaking of fanaticism doesn't seem like the previous M.O. of that order. This is more I don't know…" Jim paused to stop and think about the right words to say "I mean why announce yourself? I think we maybe look at a copycat of some kind. One with a different target in mind perhaps. Fortunately, this situation with Tabitha provides me with the opportunity to get answers. If she knows or has any idea who this is I can find out in time if not I can at least use her to get insight into what this guy is thinking. There might be some other branch of her family that's plotting to fulfill the prophesy that she doesn't know about. Which is why I want us to dig up everything we can about the Dumas family. I also want a list of anyone with or even remotely connected to the last name Galavan. I also want a list of anyone who has purchased a copy of that religious text that they are all obsessed with. Try searching within the last five to fifteen years at whatever store you'd find something like that in. I also want uniforms watching Bruce to, just to be safe and I'll give Alfred a heads up."

"Wait don't you have to pick up Tabitha soon I mean the cell is finished and everything else is setup, right?" Harvey asked confused.

"I'll call them as I'm leaving to get her. Besides I need to pick up something important I've been putting it off until last minute but I can't keep doing that." Gordon explained standing up.

"I'll head over to Loeb's then but I'm telling you Jim this is trouble. I can feel something bad coming. By the way I'd like to introduce to this new detective he that just transferred here Michael Lane I think you'll like him." Harvey said before getting ready to leave.

"Maybe later I don't have time I have to meet to meet the new D.A. Jean Paul before I do that errand and get Tabitha settled."

"Jim I'm telling you this now I got a bad feeling about all this."

"Don't be paranoid Harvey."

Meanwhile…

It was in the industrial section of Gotham his name was Matthew Hall his job involved weapons making them and designing them. He had been assigned a job from a client who wish to remain anonymous but that was fine he did a lot of under the table jobs for anyone willing to meet his price. He'd been commissioned to forge a set of body armor and weapons bearing an unusual design the hands, chest, knees, and face of the helmet were painted with a Maltese cross design with the color red. The helmet itself was made to resemble a skull his client had unusual tastes but that wasn't important what was important was that he did his job well and got paid well.

It was his finest work yet light but capable of withstanding a hail storm of bullets and not even get a dent. He had just finished his job when he heard a voice "Are you finished?"

"Huh?" Matthew jumped when he saw someone in black wearing a dark mask his head covered by a hoody. "Oh, yeah it's ready to go I made exactly like you asked. Nothing short of an RPG could hurt you in this thing."

"That's funny you'd say that." His client chuckled.

"What why?"

"No reason. I trust you've added the modifications I've requested?"

"Oh yeah." Matthew smiled proudly "With the surprises this baby, has you'll be able to take down even that Freeze guy without even breaking a sweat it. When you wear, it you may as well be a living weapon." Matthew crossed his arms "I use to do some weapon design for the government but they weren't interested in my ideas said I was too focused on Sci Fi and that I wasn't living in the real world. This suit is the first of its kind and with the new endless stream of freaks lately more and more people will be lining up for this kind of tech."

"Of that I have no doubt now about your fee I've already wired the money into your account. If you tell anyone-"

"Hey man don't worry I'd lose my clients if I violated their confidentiality. What do you even want this suit for?"

"I need it for a great endeavor to fulfill a prophesy and to slay the symbol of ultimate sin and corruption in Gotham."

"Who is that?"

"I seek to kill the son of Gotham." He answered.

"Son of Gotham?"

"There was another who sought to fulfill the prophesy but he was little more than a heretic who only sought to fulfill his own self-glorification and ego. He even was willing to murder a child to settle some petty vendetta that really had nothing to do with him. I on the other seek to kill the true Son of Gotham and settle a vendetta worth settling. I will kill the one who was born in Gotham and molded by it, who rose to the top of its society but did nothing to change it. However, before I can embark on this endeavor I must answer a question for myself." He explained.

"Okay…" Matthew thought the guy was crazy but he just wanted to be paid "So if there is nothing else-" He stopped after feeling sharp blade pierce his stomach "Why?"

"I thank you for your contribution to my noble cause I truly do however you contribute to the sin and decay of this city by making and supplying weapons to criminals. For that I cannot over look your sins or the sins of this city."


End file.
